Does mental health influence commuters’ mode choice? A cross-sectional assessment from the Netherlands

Background

People's mental health may play a role in influencing their travel behaviors; however, few studies have quantified the association between mental health and commuting mode choice.

Objective

This study examined 1) how mental health is associated with commute mode choice and 2) whether gender differences exist.

Data and methods

We used cross-sectional data from a population-representative sample of 7,280 adults aged 18–65 from the Netherlands. We applied multilevel multinomial logit regression models to investigate the associations between commuting mode choice and self-perceived mental health controlled for multiple person-level and built environmental characteristics. We also assessed possible effect modification by gender.

Results

Our covariate-adjusted regression results based on the entire sample showed no compelling evidence for an association between self-perceived mental health and commute mode choice. While we found null associations between mental health and commute mode choice for women, stratified analyses showed that men with relatively poorer mental health were likelier to commute via bus/tram.

Conclusion

Our cross-sectional findings weakly support the notion that men's mental health may be related to commute mode choice and no such relationship was found for women. However, we advocate more research before ruling out the possibility of complex interactions between mental health and commuting behavior.